Atlantic Hockey: Turnaround weekend for Holy Cross

By Allen Lessels

Holy Cross took a step in the right direction last week with a
pair of wins at Niagara, 4-2 and 3-2.

The Crusaders didn’t exactly blow up the scoreboard, but
the seven goals for the weekend were the exact same number they had
scored in their previous six games – all losses. They have
struggled to score all season and the four goals on Friday night
were their most since a 5-4 win at Boston College on Nov. 29.

Holy Cross now takes its third and final shot at Bentley in the
regular season. The Falcons beat the Crusaders, 3-2 in overtime, at
Bentley on Nov. 16 and then beat them again, 3-2, in a Frozen
Fenway game on Dec. 28.

The Crusaders led the first Bentley game 2-1 after two periods
and the teams were tied 2-2 with a period to go at Fenway and the
Falcons came up with the win each time.

The teams meet at the Hart Center at Holy Cross on Saturday
night.

The Crusaders followed a bit of a trend with last
weekend’s sweep at Niagara: Home ice hasn’t been all
that friendly to them thus far.

“It’s been an upside down year here,” said
Holy Cross coach Paul Pearl. “But we’ll figure it out
at the end.”

The Crusaders have only one win in 10 games at home – they
are 1-7-2 – and that one came way back on Nov. 1 in a 4-3
decision over Sacred Heart.

Holy Cross jumped a couple of spots in the Atlantic Hockey
standings to ninth with last week’s sweep.

Bentley is 10-1-3 since early November and continues to chase
Mercyhurst for the top spot in the league.

“They have good players and they’re well
coached,” Pearl said. “They’ve done a nice job
the last two, three, four years bringing in good players and
they’ve coached them up. They’re dangerous. On the back
end, the (Steve) Weinstein kid makes the power play go.
They’re a very solid team and they’re getting good
goaltending. All that stuff can obviously take a team a long
way.”

Bentley took three points from Canisius last weekend to close
within two points of Mercyhurst, which tied a pair of games with
Connecticut.

Mercyhurst is not waiting around, though. The Lakers rallied
late and got this weekend off to a good start with a 3-1 win at
Canisius on Thursday night.

All of the game’s scoring came in the last three and a
half minutes.

A Canisius power play goal by Kyle Gibbons opened the scoring
with 3:23 left in the third period.

Mercyhurst junior forward Daniel Bahntge scored 32 seconds later
to tie it and then added the game-winner with 57 seconds to play.
Ryan Misiak finished it with an empty net goal with 18 seconds
left.

The teams play again at Mercyhurst on Saturday night.

Player of the Week

Jordan Ruby, jr., G, RIT

Ruby made 35 saves for his first career shutout in a 6-0
blanking of Army on Friday. He stopped 37 shots in a 4-3 win on
Saturday to complete the Tiger sweep and improve his record for the
season to 3-8-2.

Game of the week

Bentley at Holy Cross, Saturday

The Falcons will be out to make it a season sweep of the
three-game series. Senior forward Brett Gensler’s hat trick
led Bentley to a 3-2 win over Holy Cross in a Frozen Fenway game on
Dec. 28 and Bentley also beat Holy Cross, 3-2 in overtime, on Nov.
16.

Atlantic Hockey Power Rankings

Mercyhurst (14-9-4, 12-1-3) – There was
little to choose between the Lakers and UConn in Erie in 2-2 and
3-3 ties. Each team was 0-for-3 on the power play on Friday and
2-for-3 on Saturday.

Bentley (12-8-3, 10-3-3) – Sophomore
forward Andrew Gladiuk scored a pair of power play goals and added
an assist to lead the Falcons to a 4-1 win at Canisius in the
series opener. The teams tied 2-2 on Sunday. Bentley is at Holy
Cross on Saturday.

UConn (10-7-4, 8-4-3) – Freshman forward
Brent Norris scored both goals in UConn’s 2-2 tie at
Mercyhurst on Friday. The teams tied again, this time 3-3, on
Saturday. UConn is at AIC on Friday and the teams play in Storrs on
Saturday.

Air Force (14-6-4, 9-3-3) – Junior
forward Cole Gunner had three goals and an assist and freshman
goalie Chris Truehl ran his record to 5-0-0 with two wins to lead
the Falcons over Sacred Heart, 6-4 and 5-0. Truehl stopped 18 shots
in the shutout.

Canisius (8-13-2, 7-7-2) – Junior
forward Tyler Wiseman’s shorthanded goal put Canisius up 2-0
in the second period on Sunday against Bentley, but the Golden
Griffins had to settle for a 2-2 tie. Three of Wiseman’s four
goals are shorties.

RIT (8-11-3, 7-7-1) – Senior forward
Michael Colavecchia scored three goals for the Tigers and had both
game-winners in a sweep of Army, 6-0 and 4-3. RIT is at Niagara on
Friday and the teams play at RIT on Saturday.

Robert Morris (6-13-3, 6-6-3) –
Sophomore Zac Lynch’s shorthanded goal helped Robert Morris
to a 5-2 win over AIC on Saturday night. Lynch has three of his
team’s five shorties this year.

Holy Cross (6-15-2, 5-9-2) – The
Crusaders swept their first weekend series and won consecutive
games for the first time since early November with 4-2 and 3-2 wins
at Niagara. Friday’s win was the Crusaders first league
victory since Nov 22.

Niagara (5-14-3, 5-7-3) – The Purple
Eagles outshot Holy Cross 43-27 and 40-24 in its weekend games, but
lost both contests. Niagara was 0-for-6 on the power play each
game. Niagara has a home and home series with RIT this
weekend.

AIC (6-15-1, 5-9-1) – Freshman goalie
Hunter Leisner made 38 saves in his team’s 4-4 tie at Robert
Morris on Friday night. Freshman defenseman Dominic Racobaldo and
senior forward Blake Peake each had a power play goal for the
Yellow Jackets.

Sacred Heart (6-18-0, 5-12-0) – Freshman
forward Jeff Carroll had two of Sacred Heart’s goals in a 6-4
loss at Air Force on Friday. The Pioneers are off this weekend and
play a pair of games at Niagara next weekend.

Army (3-18-0, 3-14-0) – Army’s top
two scorers are freshmen and its next three are sophomores. The
Black Knights play an exhibition at the Royal Military College in
Kingston, Ont., on Saturday and are at Robert Morris on Jan. 31 and
Feb. 1.